Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers, one of the most important bands ever to emerge from Wales, arrived in the late 1980s with heavy eyeliner, feather boas and political sloganeering. Inspired by the passion of The Clash, and moved by Thatcher's suppression of the miners, the glam-rock quartet's lyrics exploded with politicised anger. From unlikely beginnings came a band very much relevant 20 or 30 years later. In 1995, the Manic's rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards walked out of the Embassy hotel in London and never returned. The file on his disappearance remains open. No one knows what happened to him. With the odds so often stacked against them, MSP have proved again and again to be natural born survivors. NME named them the recipients of the 2008 God Like Geniuses Award, to honour their outstanding, unique and innovative career in music.